Saturday, October 20, 2007

Organic Scarf & Hat

I finished the long neglected so-called scarf -- a project I had begun before I started blogging. This project didn't speak to me, and I wasn't sure why. I finally know, now that I finished it and a hat, as well. At first I thought that I didn't like the yarn, since it was so loosely spun, or that I didn't like the pattern, since it made the needles do acrobatics. It turns out that I didn't like the resulting fabric because it came out biased -- I used the same needles to make a hat which I was able to finish in one day and I actually like (mostly -- the hat did turn out a little too large). The yarn is still some of the softest stuff I have ever tried, and in a gorgeous color of sage green that only shows its true glory in direct sunlight.



I do love the texture of the stitch pattern for the scarf, if only it didn't bias so much....



Specs:
Scarf: My so-called scarf from Sheep in the City.
Yarn: Catskill Merino from Union Square Greenmarket, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 10.5s, 16" bamboo

Hat: Improvised stockinette knit on 80 stitches
Yarn: Catskill Merino from Union Square Greenmarket, 1 skein
Needles: Size 10.5s, 16" bamboo

4 comments:

Joan said...

That's a problem I'm unfamiliar with... I'm intending to knit this out of Manos. Do you have any suggestions, please? Is it painful to knit or do you just have to block the life out of it when you're done?

Kelley said...

I feel like it needed an edging of some sort that was neat. My usual slip-stitch edging wouldn't have cut it, nor would a garter-stitch edging of 3 stitches. Maybe a linen-stitch edging, because that doesn't curl? The other problem may be the yarn -- I have heard of unbalanced or overspun yarn causing biasing. It wasn't particularly painful to knit -- it was just a pain. I'd make a generous swatch if I was going to do this again (maybe 1 ft long, to really see about the biasing). I don't feel that blocking would work well enough because of the way a scarf is worn....

Joan said...

Thanks for the advice, Kelley-- I'll make sure I swatch for once. I did see an example of this scarf knit on the bias (on purpose). It looked really good. But for the life of me can't remember where!

tiennieknits said...

I think it turned out beautifully anyways! Very nice!